Continuity mistake: The cart with the TV changes its position in various shots. For example, in the close-up of Marge's legs lifting off the ground and when Marge floats out the door in the exterior shot, the cart is aligned with the doorway, then at other times it is at the inner edge of the draperies or in between. (00:04:10)
Continuity mistake: At the Leaky Cauldron, after Harry takes off his sneaker, to distract the Monster Book of Monsters, he stands at the edge of the bed. In the wide shot, the very long ends of the shoelace dangle over his fingers at his knuckles, yet, in the next close-up, it's now the short ends that are held tightly in his fist, the opposite way. (00:15:55)
Continuity mistake: When Snape is insulting Hermione on being a know-it-all while he is substituting for Lupin, he has a slide show running. The shot shows Hermione with the projector behind her. The projector now changes slides fully and stops moving. When the shot changed back to Snape, the slide is still changing. It could not be the next slide because the slide changes every few seconds. (00:53:00)
Continuity mistake: During class, as Lupin's Boggart turns into a wheezing balloon in the first shot it passes Harry and heads to the back, however, in the next shot the balloon is still in front of Lupin. (00:44:15)
Continuity mistake: At Hagrid's, after the jar breaks the first time, in the wide shot the toad is on the table, under the cracked pieces of jar, yet in the next close-up, the cracked pieces are gone and the toad is back on the blue plate. Later, when Hermione throws the stone, the toad is on the plate (which is farther from the jar now) as the jar breaks. (01:24:50 - 01:51:20)
Continuity mistake: In the boggart scene after Neville Longbottom has confronted the boggart, we can see that Ron is next, then Seamus Finnigan, then Parvati Patil. But after Ron's turn with the boggart, Prof. Lupin immediately calls out Parvati. Seamus never got a chance with the boggart even though he was right behind Ron. (00:41:10)
Continuity mistake: When we get to Trelawney's class when she says "...discover if you possess the sight.", she gets up from her chair. While doing so she place both her arms on the arm rest, but when it cuts her left arm is up. (00:28:10)
Continuity mistake: When Marge is floating off into the air, in one shot we see Dudley leaning back in horror and suprise, and he brings his arms back, off of the table and to his side. Yet in the following shot his arms are back to laying on the table and he lifts them up off the table again, but doesn't bring them to his side (he just lifts them up into the air). Then in the next wide shot they are laying on the table again. (00:04:45)
Continuity mistake: When Harry enters the room in the Leaky Cauldron that the Minister of Magic is in, Hedwig has arrived before him. The owl shown at the start of the scene is a white owl with many black spots on both its wings. However, when Harry leaves and Hedwig flies to his arm, this owl has very few spots at the edge of its wings and tail, obviously it's one of the other owls that portray Hedwig. (00:12:55 - 00:14:35)
Continuity mistake: When Potter goes onto the bus he has his arms down. When in cuts he has his right arm in his pocket. (00:08:45)
Continuity mistake: As Harry walks toward the Monster Book of Monsters as it lies on the bench in the first shot, the bench is near the edge of rug close to the fireplace. As the book chases him the bench is nearer the center of the rug. (00:15:00)
Continuity mistake: Outside Hagrid's when Cornelius Fudge says, "...shall be executed this day at sundown." you see Harry, Hermione and Ron hide behind some pumpkins. You can also see a crow standing on a pumpkin right in front of them. When it cuts from behind them that crow is gone. (01:22:45)
Continuity mistake: In the paddock scene, Harry is walking towards Buckbeak. The shot then focuses on Hermione putting her arm on Ron's shoulder. Then the camera focuses back on Harry and in the background you can see Hermione placing her arm on Ron's shoulder again. (00:33:10)
Continuity mistake: When Harry is on the Knight Bus, Stan Shunpike has acne on his neck that keeps changing. Sometimes there is a whitehead, and other times it's just a red mark.
Continuity mistake: When they discover The Fat Lady is gone from her painting as the Head Boy says "Let me through. Excuse me, I'm Head Boy." you can see Potter, Hermione, Ron and Neville change position between the shots. (00:45:55)
Continuity mistake: After the incident with the Whomping Willow, the dirt smudges all over Harry and Hermione's clothes change appearance and/or position in the following shots. (01:29:30)
Continuity mistake: When everyone, except Harry, leaves to Hogsmeade village, Hermione is waving as she and Ron walk directly behind McGonagall, with the last of the crowd of children ahead of them still in the courtyard. There is a short cut facing Harry now standing IN the doorway. Then the next shot from behind Harry, shows Ron and Hermione still walking past the fountain, but now McGonagall and the entire crowd of children are out of the courtyard. They could not have walked away that fast. (00:43:35)
Continuity mistake: When Hermione and the others are in Hagrid's hut, a rock with a swirl on it hits the pot. Later, when Hermione and Harry are reliving the scene from the exterior view, Hermione picks up the "same" rock to throw at the pot. The rock is different though, it has a bigger swirl on it. (01:24:55 - 01:51:15)
Continuity mistake: During the scene where Snape confronts Harry roaming the hallways at night with the Marauder's Map, the position of the pull strings hanging down from Harry's sweatshirt hood changes several times between shots. At first the strings are tangled together, but during later shots the strings are hanging down apart, then back to being tangled, then apart again. This happens once more when Prof. Lupin and Harry are talking immediately afterwards in the Dark Arts classroom. (01:13:05)
Continuity mistake: When Marge turns upside-down, just before floating out the dining room door, the bottom of her jacket falls towards her arms and the back of her jacket is deliberately pinned to her blouse and skirt, so as not to fall entirely down. (00:05:15)
Answer: This didn't happen in the book. It appears to be done purely for comic effect in the movie, showing Dumbledore's eccentric and quirky nature. He's seemingly oblivious to what he's doing and how it affects Ron.
raywest ★